Greens warn against side effects of search engine

The parliamentary group of the Greens in the Bundestag, the lower chamber of Germany's federal parliament, is especially worried about the "googleising" of society and current trends in the area of search engines.

In a 23-page booklet, “Search Engines: The Gate to the Net”, available (in German) at http://www.gruenefraktion.de/cms/publikationen/dokbin/63/63265.pdf
They suggest that search engines are not neutral, mathematical machines but they impose hierarchies on search results, guiding the attention of users, they sometimes blur the distinction between search results and ads and can make intense efforts to collect personal data.

The MPs welcome initiatives to make the ways search engines work more transparent and the attempts of German search engine operators who have lately agreed to adhere to an appropriate "code of ethics".

Read the full article at
http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/57751

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